The Urban Marriage and Family Therapy Initiatives program, directed by Dr. Anibal Torres of the Marriage and Family Therapy Department, encompassed 3 distinct projects:

A recruitment program

An urban internship development program

A multicultural competence-training program.

These projects accomplished the following 3 objectives during the 12-month funding period (January 2009-December 2009):

Increased the number of racial ethnic minority and multilingual applicants to Fairfield University’s Department of Marriage and Family Therapy by 5%

Increased by 5% the number of internship opportunities and clinical interns in the urban centers of Fairfield County.

Developed a training sequence that enhances the multicultural competence of marriage and family therapy clinical interns and clinical supervisors.

The project involved partnerships between the Graduate School of Education and Allied Professions and community-based mental health service providers, namely Family Services Woodfield in Bridgeport and Catholic Charities in Bridgeport and Norwalk Connecticut.